nhlApril 13, 2018 11:59pm EDTJanuary 14, 2016 12:20pm ESTThe Original Six remain bedrock, but other hockey franchises have not fared as well. A look at teams that move or, in one case, folded since the 1967 expansion.

Seals

A quick primer: The NHL added six teams in 1967, doubling from the sainted Original Six to add Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Minnesota's Twin Cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The real adventure in this story came from the Bay Area.

Originally the California Seals, the team got its name from a West Coast minor pro operation. In fact, both teams were active as the Seals. But while the WHL franchise was thriving in San Francisco, the NHL team was wallowing. Hence, a quick name change to Oakland Seals to denote the team's home.

Owner Barry Van Gerbig ignored early advances to move the team to Vancouver or Buffalo.

Charles O. Finley, notorious owner of the Oakland A's, bought into the team and helped rename it the Golden Seals. But even Finley's flamboyant showmanship couldn't keep the Seals afloat. In 1974, Finley was done and the NHL took over the franchise. Finley, by the way, had been eyeing Indianapolis.

Reports also had the Seals interested to Denver about the time the Penguins were mulling Seattle. Instead, amid financial turmoil the team was sold and moved to Cleveland. After two seasons the Barons folded — the most recent North American sports franchise to go bust. Remnants were slipped into the North Stars.

Gilles Meloche in his Barons mask and sweater

By the way, before expansion the NHL had lost teams in Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa and Hamilton, Ont.; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Brooklyn. Many were due to the Great Depression.

Scouts

Overly optimistic as the success of its other franchises, the NHL continued to expand. Some teams did OK. Then, there was the Kansas City experiment.

KC's checkered existence in pro sports saw the expansion Scouts struggle for two years. Their futility and financial problems led to a sale to investors seeking to move the team to Denver. The Scouts' seasons: 1974-75, '75-76.

Enter the Colorado Rockies (not the baseball team).

Financial struggles continued despite maturing talent and by 1982 the team's six-year run was over. John McMullen bought the team and moved it to New Jersey.

After early years as a "Mickey Mouse operation," per Wayne Gretzky, the New Jersey Devils developed a powerhouse that won three Stanley Cups.

Flames

The NHL's first venture into the nontraditional South wasn't a success. Eight seasons in Atlanta yielded little on-ice success, and owners in financial problems found a way out.

Via Calgary. Nelson Skalbania bought the team in 1980 and moved to Alberta, where it joined the Oilers in a heated competition. The Flames became a success in 1986 by reaching the Stanley Cup finals and winning the big silver in 1989.

North Stars

The second of the Expansion Six to leave home, the North Stars were good for a while in hockey-mad Minnesota. They had Gump Worsley, J.P. Parise and Lou Nanne early on, with Brian Bellows, Mike Modano, Dino Ciccarelli and Neal Broten later. However, they couldn't make a go of it and after 26 years were looking for better financial conditions.

Enter Dallas. Renamed the Stars to fit a Texas image, the team went south in 1993. And while it had been two Cup finals in the Twin Cities, the Stars found their greatest success in Big D. Stanley Cup in 1999, finals in 2000.

Nordiques

There's a pain in French Canada. The Nordiques were pretty good in Quebec City, but hard times in Canada brought a sale to interests in Denver in 1995.

Here's the splinter under the nail. In their first season in Colorado, the Avalanche acquired Patrick Roy after his fallout with the Canadiens. Given a world-class goalie for a deep and talented roster that included Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, the Avs won the Stanley Cup.

The French word for "ouch" was heard along with various oaths and curses.

Jets, original

The year after the Nords moved to Denver, small-market Winnipeg lost its team. To, of all places, Phoenix.

Gary Bettman's desire to spread hockey into nontraditional warm-weather cities plunked this former WHA team in Arizona in 1996.

What has followed is highlighted by on-ice futility. Highlighted. The Coyotes franchise has been sold, fallen on its financial keister, nearly been sold to an investor in Hamilton, Ont., taken over by the NHL and continues to face an uncertain future. Not just financially; its arena plan has taken a beating as well.

Whalers

One of four WHA cities to enter in NHL in 1979 — the others were Winnipeg, Quebec and Edmonton — Hartford gave Gordie Howe a last shot while in his 50s as he played with sons Mark and Marty. It had Ron Francis and other quality players.

It was OK, this Whalers franchise, but it wasn't making money. So when software firm CEO and team owner Peter Karmanos got the itch to join the NHL's southern migration, he decided on North Carolina.

Which was interesting, because the team had to play in Greensboro for several years before its home in Raleigh was ready.

The renamed Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006 but have fallen on hard times.